Chapter 51
“I’m starting to think road trips are overrated,” I said from the passenger side of the car. “And exhausting.”
He laughed. “Exhausting? I’ve done all the driving. Thank God I was cleared to drive, huh?”
“We can switch at the next stop,” I said.
“Nah, I like you as my passenger princess. And road trips aren’t overrated. We just haven’t seen anything good yet. Just motels and diners.”
“What are we going to do when we get to Idaho? Not live in a motel for three months, right?”
“No.” He paused a moment. “I found us a house to rent.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.” He reached into his pocket and extracted his cell and handed it to me.
It was a new phone. The one he had for the club was off and in the glove compartment.
“I don’t know the code,” I said.
“Your birthday.”
“Savage,” I murmured.
He shot me a grin. “Unlock it. Go to my email. It’s flagged.”
I did as he said.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw the photos. It was a two-bedroom cabin in the middle of the woods perched on the side of a mountain. “Oh my God, it’s gorgeous.”
“Gorgeous and quiet. And at the moment, completely covered in snow.”
“I’ve never seen snow.” I looked at him. “This is perfect. Except for one issue.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t have winter clothes. Not for an Idaho winter. I barely had Texas winter clothes.”
“Don’t sweat it. We’ll buy you whatever you need. So yeah, anyway, the house is waiting for us.”
“It says it’s outside of a town called Huckleberry Hill. That’s for real?”
He grinned. “Yeah, that’s for real.”
“Is it as quaint as it sounds?”
“Yeah. I’ve ridden through the town during summer. It’s a hidden gem.”
I closed his phone and set it in the console between us. “You took care of it. Without even asking me.”
“You mad about that?”
“No.” I looked out the window.
“You are mad.”
“I’m really not. But when it comes time for something more permanent, I want to be involved.”
“Without question.”
“Savage?”
“Yeah?”
“What happens if they don’t let you back into the club?”
He gripped the wheel but didn’t look at me. “Then I’ll get a normal job. I’ll still be able to provide for you, Evie.”
“I wasn’t worried about you providing for me. I’m worried about you providing for yourself.”
“I don’t get it.”
“The club gives you more than just a paycheck, Savage. How can a normal job replace that?”
“Nothing will replace the club. But if Prez decides the club is better off without me, then I’ll have to make peace with it. Nothing lasts forever.”
I adjusted the air vent, and I placed my hands in front of it, trying to thaw my cold fingers.
Savage adjusted the temperature to make it warmer.
He looked strange without his leather cut. Like he was missing a part of himself.
“Have you talked to Duke?” I asked.
“Just texts.”
“And?”
“And what?” he demanded in exasperation.
“Don’t get mad at me,” I snapped. “I was just curious.”
“I’m telling him where we’re stopping. We haven’t touched on the subject of me being on probation with the club. He voted in favor of the probation.”
“You said the vote was unanimous,” I murmured. “But somehow I didn’t put that together. You mad at him for it?”
“No. He had to vote that way. He had to vote for what’s in the best interest of the club. He’s loyal to me, but it was the right call, and I respect him for it.”
We fell silent and it was clear neither of us wanted to talk anymore. He turned on some music, and I pulled out a sketchpad and a pencil. I curled my knees up to my chest to make my lap a makeshift desk.
It wasn’t comfortable and I soon lost interest.
I leaned my head against the seat rest and closed my eyes. I was jostled awake, and my bladder immediately let me know it was full.
Savage had pulled into a truck stop with a big travel center.
I set my sketchpad aside. “I need to use the bathroom.”
He nodded. “I’ll get gas and then go in after you.”
I went inside the travel center and used the facilities and then I bought us snacks for the rest of our day’s drive. I was already sick of being in the car; I wanted to get to our final destination. I wanted the quiet and the solitude, not the endless buzzing sound of rubber tires on the highway.
“You’re up,” I said when I got back to the car. I opened the candy bar and took a bite.
Savage pulled the car into a parking spot to make room for the next customer in line and then he went inside.
By the time he came back to the car, twenty minutes had passed, along with two candy bars finding their way into my belly.
He held a plastic bag.
“What did you get?” I asked, buckling myself in.
“It’s for you.”
My heart cartwheeled. “Me?”
I reached into the bag and pulled out a lap desk with a cushioned bottom that rested on my legs.
“So you can draw easier,” he said.
“Thank you.” I looked at him. “That was thoughtful of you.”
He frowned.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re being polite.”
“Uh yeah, it’s called having manners.”
He shook his head. “No, I mean you’re talking to me like you would talk to a stranger. What’s going on?”
“Truth?”
“Truth.”
“I hate being in the car. I hate feeling trapped. I hate that everything is so . . .”
“Unsettled.”
“Yes.”
He sighed. “I’m trying.”
“Trying to do what?”
“Trying to move forward, but all I want to do is fight or ride because the guilt is eating me alive. And I can’t do either of those things. That’s the old Savage. The old Savage who got us into this mess. Who got Acid . . . I’m trapped too, Evie. Trapped between the old version of myself and wanting to be better. But not knowing if I can.”
I reached over and cradled his cheek in my hand. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and he had stubble.
He kissed my palm, and I dropped my hand. He then started the car, and we got back on the road.
The endless, unceasing road.
“You didn’t tell me you draw.”
“I don’t really,” I said. “I was doodling at Three Kings one day. Not sure if I’m any good.”
“You’re good,” he said. “You’re a natural. Do something for me?”
“Anything.”
He smiled. “Draw me something. And I’ll get it inked on me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’d like to have something of you with me, always.”
I sighed. “Savage.”
“Love you, babe.”
“I love you too.”
Nodding he said, “Everything else, I can figure out. As long as I have you.”